Day 104: OREGON!!

Date: Mon 7/30

PCT Start Mile: 1683.2 (CA)

PCT End Mile: 1712.5 (OR)

PCT Mileage for Day: 29.3

Total PCT Mileage: 1712.5

The Highlights: finished with CA!!!

Today was our last wake up in California. The morning sky was dark blue-black and the moon still bright when I started pulling myself together, packing up to hike out.

California tried very hard to get a last bit of love out of me this morning after being less than impressed the last few days, delivering slightly easier terrain and even a herd of grazing cattle with loud bells on – Switzerland style.

Heading into Warner Springs (back at mile 109), we could scarcely get cows to move off the trail. This herd was so skittish they took off in a stampede the moment they heard us. Later some looked confused about which direction to run. Not this way, I thought. It would be a real shame to die in a stampede right before the border. I could have stayed home on the farm for that.

Listening to cow bells… not the “more cow bell” kind…

Our last 8.5 miles through California were relatively tame, though the border crossing was halfway up a ~5 mile climb. Naturally.

We arrived at the border just after 9am, the state line marked by a wooden sign on a tree. What a ride, California – desert, rattlesnakes, the majestic high Sierras, river crossings, frozen lakes, mosquito misery, stunning views, hippie mountain towns, ridiculous heat, wildfires, bears, mountain upon mountain upon mountain – to the very end. It’s been an amazing three months and twelve days.

Dilapidated sign, but we still feel welcome.

Despite all the great California memories, northern California was mentally very challenging as all of the hikers looked toward the forward progress of making it to a new state.

People talk about getting through the desert and the beauty of the high Sierras, but fail to acknowledge that after leaving the Sierras, you still have six hundred miles to go to get through the rest of California. The state is a beast.

We’ve said all along, if we can make it through California then, barring injury or weather close-outs in Washington, we can make it to the end. As our hiker friend Old Timer has said, this is no vacation out here. It’s hard to describe the mental and physical rigor of hiking and living along the trail. Every day there are people who quit.

Finally!

For the past couple weeks, we’d been unsure if we’d even be able to cross the border with several fire closures in affect along the trail, but the last of these near the border – for the Hendrix Fire – reopened just last Friday, allowing us to continue northward without any tricky road alternate routes.

Signing into the trail register at the border.

Now here we are… the border! At last! Oregon! By this point everyone has built up Oregon to be a fairytale land in their minds – flat springy turf with delicious berries on all the bushes and elves making cookies in the trees.

It is true that Oregon should be much easier terrain, flatter and faster, but only time will tell how quick the miles will go. As far as elves making cookies in the trees, I’m still holding out hope for this.

Waving goodbye to California. Peace out, smell ya later!

At the border, we signed the trail log, snapped some photos, and waved goodbye to California. Peace out.

Unfortunately that flat and fast Oregon terrain did not start immediately, as we had about three miles left to climb after the border. The majority of the day was fairly easy though, and – only another 8ish miles after the border, we hit another benchmark – 1700 miles!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. The skies were much clearer than they had been the last couple of days in California, which was a welcome change for scenery as well as breathing.

We weaved our way through forest, bare hillsides, and thick fields of wildflowers. The afternoon brought a surprise cooler of trail magic and we sat with another hiker named Foxworthy drinking sodas. She lived in the Seattle area but was originally from Oregon, so crossing the border was like coming home to her.

Tonight we are camped about 7 miles from the Callahan Lodge, from which we’ll hitch into Ashland for some well deserved rest.

We are also beyond past the need for showers. You know when you’re so dirty that if you rub your skin you can literally roll the dirt off? Well, I’m lying in my sleeping bag rolling all the dirt off my face. I think I could rub my face all night and dirt would just keep rolling off. Town tomorrow. Gotta clean up 😂